Volo man dies in Wauconda snowmobile accident

Peter NickeasTribune reporter

A 39-year-old Volo man died Friday night in a snowmobile accident in Wauconda.

The man hit a cable gate just east of the intersection of Fairfield Road and West Lake Fairfield Lane (north of Gossel Road) in Wauconda about 9:50 p.m. on Friday, according to a release from the Lake County Forest Preserve Police. He was identified as Shane Diaz, 39, by the Lake County coroner's office.

He wasn't traveling on a marked trail in the Lakewood Forest Preserve and was wearing a helmet at the time of the wreck, according to the release.

"There's a snowmobile trail they're supposed to follow," Lake County Forest Preserve Police Chief John Tannahill said today. "A couple went off that marked trail and one of the riders hit a cable gate. We put those up where they go into farm fields and he must not have seen it.”

The man was traveling with a second snowmobile but the driver of that one wasn't injured in the accident, Tannahill said.

Police from Wauconda, the Lake County Forest Preserve, ranger police, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources all responded.

An ambulance also responded but paramedics couldn't save the man, who died at the scene.

His name hasn't been released yet.

Police said they had no reason to believe alcohol played a role but the incident is still under investigation by the Lake County Forest Preserve and Illinois Department of Natural Resources.